Those steps could include ordering stricter action against people who lie on gun sale background checks, striking limits on federal research into gun use, ordering tougher penalties against gun trafficking, and giving schools flexibility to use grant money to improve safety.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that Americans overwhelmingly support certain measures that Vice President Joe Biden suggested. Those measures would need congressional approval.

For background checks on firearms buyers at gun shows, Americans showed 88 percent support and 76 percent of them supported background checks on ammunition buyers. According to the poll, 65 percent of Americans supported banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, which was at an all-time high since 2011.

Obama is expected to unveil his proposals as early as Wednesday, barely over a month since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school.

At the same time Obama is vowing not to back off his support for sweeping gun legislation that would require congressional backing, despite opposition from the influential gun lobby.